Guarded Heart
The Guarded Heart is one of the several Wandering Castles that teleport from one location to another within the Haven. The Guarded Heart travels only along the North/South range of the Western Mountains on the continent of Pulse. It resembles a medieval keep with a small village at its Northern edge, guarded by a large gate, and a winding, narrow, pass that leads into the keep proper. The general layout of the keep is always the same, regardless of where it appears in the mountain range. The pathway through the keep follows the ridge line of the mountain, always on the northern side of the summit, the village is always to the north, and the tower is always at the summit of the mountain. The Guarded Heart is guarded by a singular entity, Warden Ælle. He used to be the Lord of the land that this keep presided over. He was a powerful and just warrior that lead his people to great prosperity. Until he found himself entranced with the desire to gain powerful magics. He spent the later part of his life performing horribly wicked experiments on the people that he lorded over. He summoned powerful creatures to help him in his pursuit of power, subjugating them to his will and treating them with wanton cruelty. Eventually the creatures broke free of his binds and sought vengeance on their captor. Warden Ælle then sought to raise a powerful army to fight against the creatures that he had brought into this world. He further experimented on his people and created a type of biological golem, grown rather than molded. With this new army he quelled the uprising of the unholy creatures he summoned. Now, Warden Ælle wanders the buildings of the keep as a Death Knight and gives swift death to any who would trespass within the walls of the keep. He can be defeated in combat, but will quickly reappear to continue guarding this lands. He becomes much more aggressive the farther you roam into the keep. It is believed that he has the properties of a lich and that somewhere within the Tower at the Summit lies his phylactery. The Guarded Heart sits in temporal flux. The closer you get to the Tower at the Summit the more temporal anomalies can be seen. These present themselves as ghostly apparitions seemingly performing daily tasks although being unable to be interacted with in any way. In addition to the apparitions, the closer you get to the Tower at the Summit the more pristine in condition the Guarded Heart becomes. Becoming, seemingly, in a modern state with no decay once inside the tower. Through the Pass: Winding path cut into the slope of the mountain A path, cut straight from the stone, sits at the base of the mountain, it winds up the ridge line with the tall walls of the mountain growing taller as you slowly ascend. As you look up you see a tall archway with open doors growing nearer. Arch with doors (open) Before you stands a grand archway. It stands at least 30 feet tall with a recessed heavy oaken double door built into it. The doors set open to reveal a small village of homes beyond. While the craftsmanship of the door and the archway is impeccable, there are no pictographs or other details on the doors or archway. On either side of the arch sit guard towers. Guard towers on either side The guard towers stand tall, almost as tall as the archway itself. Each with a door, made from the same heavy oak as the doors in the archway, leading inside. Along the curved face of the towers sit several crossed slits cut into the stone. Once inside you see several tables and chairs, as well as a fireplace along the far end. There is a tall staircase that travels along the circumference of the inside leading to a trap door at the top. The top of the tower is flat with a few chairs set about. There are bows and arrows set around, as well as a few buckets. The front of the roof, facing the tower on the other side, is a raised battlement. Past the Gate: Rows of homes, long abandoned These homes sit empty, the wood holding them together having dried and bleached to the point that a stray spark could set them alight. No one lives here anymore. There is nothing left of the furnishings save for wooden frames. The paper in any books found here have all rotted away leaving empty covers and spines holding onto nothing. Winding path to the keep At the far end of the little village is another winding path leading up. Across which is another archway. There are no walls on either side of this path. Unlike the previous one there is just a sheer drop down on either side of this narrow path. There is a drawbridge that is lowered, but the portcullis beyond is closed. On either side are guard towers with machicolations along their battlements. From the sides of the towers spreads a high wall. The 6 Outbuildings: Building 1 Floor 1: you enter into a room that is 60' to a side. there are multiple tables strewn around a central fire pit. The fire pit contains nothing but ashes and the rusted remnants of a rack, most likely for hanging meat to cook. There are a few place settings on the tables, but nothing of much value. There are stairs on the east/west side leading up. In the SW corner of the room are a few kegs containing nothing more than insect carapaces. Floor 2: From either stair way on Floor 1 you enter into a long hallway with 10 doors on either side. The doors open to reveal long and narrow bedchambers. There are several beds per chamber with odd end tables strewn around. The mattresses and blankets have all rotted away leaving nothing but iron frames. The frames are arranged in a bunk bed style to optimize the space utilization. Checking the bed frames and end tables reveals nothing of value. There are 3 stairways, 2 on the East and West ends of the hallway that lead down and 1 on the East end of the hallway leading up. Floor 3: You enter into a hallway with several doors on either side. A few feet in front of you is a 4 way intersection of hallways and several feet past that is another 4 way intersection. There is a doorway at the West end of the main hallway. The rooms are laid out in a grid pattern with 3 on the South and 3 on the North. The 4 rooms in each corner consist of nothing more than a few tables and chairs. Upon the tables are a few books and a selection of cards with ornate, and sometimes lewd, imagery upon them. The books appear to have the same images with text describing them, but they are written in an unknown language. The central room on the North side of the hallway is a small library. The central room on the South side of the hallway appears to be a study room, with several individual cubicles and chairs. The door on the West side leads outside to a bridge going to Building 2. There is a ladder in between the library and the western corner room that leads to the roof. Building 2 Floor 1: There are a total of 13 forges still burning from a source unknown here. They are arranged in a grid of 4,2,1,2,4 going from South to North and Left to Right. You see weaponry in various stages of completeness as you go from forge to forge. At the far West portion of the Floor is a room containing several small racks of various weaponry, a small stool, and a hammer and anvil. There is a 25% chance of finding a magical weapon on one of the racks in this room. Floor 2: Crossing the Bridge from Floor 3 in Building 1 brings you to a door that opens into the East side of Building 2. A series of catwalks overlooking several (13) forges greets you. The catwalks are arranged in a square pattern with crosswalks going North/South and East/West. On the far North of the North/South catwalk is a door to what looks to be a Foreman's overwatch. There is a ladder heading to the Ground Floor of this building about 10' South of the door to the Foreman's room. Foreman's Overwatch: Within this room are several desks with ledgers on them. The writing is unintelligible, but appears to be a work spread and manifest. On either end, East/West, there sits a bed frame, the mattress and covers having long rotted away. In the Center of the Northern wall is a Trapdoor leading down. Underkiln: Climbing down the ladder from the Foreman's watch you find yourself in a very hot, densely packed room. There is a large box made of an unknown material taking up the majority of the space in this room. Coming from the box are a total of 13 pipes heading upward through the roof of the room. There is a small porthole within the box. Inside (spellcraft check) sit a Flame Elemental and an Air Elemental in a perpetual battle. Building 3 Within Building 3 the party begins to see ghostly apparitions of this section of the keep's past occupants. The party will see human sized figures, translucent and unaware of the party's existence, going through their daily activities. The party is unable to interact with the apparitions in any way. Floor 1: A large 60' room with rows upon rows of high quality weaponry, exceptional, but overall mundane. A doorway on the East wall opens to a bridge that leads to the Eastern Battlement. There is a set of stairs that lead up on the Western end of the room. Floor 2: A long hallway spanning the entire East/West length of the building. On the far East end of the hallway is a ladder leading to the roof. This floor has 4 rooms of equal size in each corner. The southeast room holds a large circular ring of stone, raised from the ground and about 10' in diameter, the southwest room holds a small chapel with several pews and a pulpit at its southern end, the northeast room holds what appears to be a war room with battle plans strewn across several desks, the northwest room holds a pool filled with water. Building 4 A single floor is all that comprises this building. A set of stairs on the Eastern side leads to the roof and a doorway on the Western wall opens to a bridge that leads to the Western battlement. This building is much the same as Floor 1 in Building 3 although the weaponry is of a much higher quality and much more sparse. There are a guaranteed d6 magical weapons in this room, the make and style of which is DM choice. Much like Building 3 the party will see ghostly apparitions of the building's past inhabitors. Going about their business perusing the weaponry, grabbing a weapon and walking out to the battlement. The difference being that the apparitions here are much taller and lankier than the ones in Building 3. Building 5 An extremely tall building. There are 4 entrances to this building. A trapdoor in each corner of the roof that leads to a spiral staircase that spans the entire 150' height of this building. The interior of Building 5 is dark, and unless otherwise illuminated, vision is obscured to the point of blindness. If the trapdoors are open then they offer a narrow vertical beam of illumination. Torches will only illuminate a sphere 5' in diameter. The entirety of this building is full of human sized vats laid out in a grid-like fashion. The vats lay horizontally and are stacked one on top of the other. There is enough room between the vertical stacks for a medium sized creature to squeeze through. Toward the top of the building, fluid can be heard swishing around and flowing through the vats. The sound dissipates quickly as you get deeper into the building. Breaking the vats open reveals a gestation chamber. The vats toward the top are full of live embryonic samples. As you traverse downward the samples become more developed but about a quarter of the way down they cease to be alive and begin to progress in their state of decomposition. Being fully developed skeletons with bits of rotting flesh still clinging to the wet bones at the bottom. ''Building 6'' Accessible via a trapdoor from the roof. Building 6 is simple and small in design. A single floor that holds 3 altars and 5 baths. The altars sit along the East, West, and North walls. The eastern altar has a tall and lanky humanoid figure with arms outstretched carved into its face, the western altar has a statue of a similar looking figure in a resting position set atop it a bowl with simple coinage, worth no more than 6gp, the northern altar is has no imagery but rather just has silken robes of the highest quality folded upon its surface. The five baths sit in a cross sectional array, 4 on the corners and 1 in the middle, and are filled with a liquid that is decidedly not water. There is a doorway in the center of the South wall that opens to a bridge to the tower, but it will only appear for those that have properly performed the rights to advance. All who have not performed the rights will see only a stone wall. 1) pray at eastern altar 2) offer tribute at western altar 3) wash in baths 4) dress in the silken robes. The ghostly forms in this room look much the same as in Building 4 and are much more corporeal. They can be seen performing the rights of advancement and then walking through the stone wall where the door to the bridge is. The party is still unable to actively interact with the figures. The rights of advancement can be bypassed with a successful secret doors check and a find/remove traps check. The door is revealed through a complex mechanical switch that is triggered through the actions involved in the rights. The Tower at the Summit Floor 1: You enter into a 120x120' grand hall. There is a pathway in front of you with an onyx carpet leading to charred thrown sitting atop a charred stone dais. The walkway is covered to the left and the right by statues of tall thin figures, armored and resting their hands upon the hilt of their sword, their heads are bowed. The ceiling stretches up some 60' and are supported by a number of ornate pillars. At the center of the room is a large glowing pillar. The thrown sits empty. Behind the thrown are 3 statues similar to the others but with a different positions. The one to the left stands with a bowl in its arms, to the right one stands in a prayer position, and in the center one stands with arms straight down at its sides. Floor 2: SE: Long thin pods arranged in a circle around a large fire. Several of the pods lie cracked open and empty. A few are still whole. If cracked open will show tall lanky humanoids in a vat of briny liquid. N: Several large kegs filled with the same briny liquid inside the pods. SW: A set of arches built around a small pool of the same briny liquid as was in the kegs. There is a podium with a book resting on top of it. The text and images in the book seem to detail a strange biological process. E & W: Tables with chairs arranged around them. Appears to be some sort of waiting area. NE: Several long thin tables arrayed in a grid. There are straps and other bindings hanging from the side of the tables. Set aside, to the north of the room, are several surgical implements. NW: A library filled with pristine tomes. Most consist of books on biology, but there are 2 spell books....search check to find. S: an empty hallway with a large window cut out of the wall 15x15'. Floor 3: Several arches and pillars arranged in a circular fashion. There is a large circle with a smaller one inside of it. Between the two circles lie a total of 12 holes in the ground. The holes do not lead to the floor below and the bottom of them can not be seen. With either the Keen Hearing or Keen Sense of Smell trait a party member can gain further knowledge of what lies at the bottom of these holes. Keen Hearing: enraged animal howling and screaming. Keen Sense of Smell: the smell of sulfur and heat rises from the holes. The pillars making these circles are made of pure gold. The total value, if melted down and converted into official currency, is 20,410,000 gp. While easily avoidable, if any party member falls/jumps down any of the holes they will be essentially dead and will no longer be a part of the party. If anyone in the party performs any summoning spell in this room an equivalent level demon will climb from one of the holes, i.e. Monster Summoning 1, 2, & 3 will yield little more than swarms of flies varying in size, Monster Summoning 4 will yield a Black Abishai, Monster Summoning 5 will yield a Green Abishai, Monster Summoning 6 will yield a Red Abishai, and Monster Summoning 7 will yield a Pit Fiend. If a Pit Fiend appears the party member that summoned it will have to make a Wisdom check to maintain control over the devil. If failed the Pit Fiend will immediately become hostile towards the party. Floor 4: The floor in this room is crawling with maggots. All of which are sourced from the mouth of an enormous bust floating in the air. The bust is depicting a long, thinly faced, humanoid, and is made from some sort of incredibly hard and dense stone. The bust is glowing and radiating heat. Anything touching the stone receives 1d6 damage and anything flammable must make a save versus catching fire. This is Warden Ælle's phylactery and whenever Warden Ælle dies he climbs from the mouth of this stone bust. Destroying the phylactery does not kill Warden Ælle, but rather just removes its means of returning to this world. The destruction of the phylactery requires a significant amount of damage. A single blow that can deliver 60+ points of physical damage will cause the stone to shatter. Prolonged physical damage consisting of less than 60 points at once is ineffective and does not yield any results. Certain magical spells will cause the bust to shatter, e.g. the second level wizard spell Shatter as well as the priests ability of God Call. Floor 5: This floor is mostly empty. It consists only of a raised dais atop which sits a glass doorway. Through the glass doorway is a bright white light. Faint outlines of pillars are visible. This doorway leads to Pulse Space = Back to the Haven = __NOEDITSECTION__